Laundry pads



Oct- 9, 19 J. D. WILLINGHAM, JR 3,

LAUNDRY PADS Filed May 22, 1959 lNTOR: 3 JOHN D. WILLINGHAM,JR

ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofifice 3,5?119 Patented Get. 9, 19623,957,179 LAUNDRY PADS John D. Wiliingham, Jim, 22%) W. Paces Ferry RoadNW., Atianta, Ga. Fiied lv iay 22, 1%9, er. No. 815,170 Claims. (Q1.66-11%) This invention relates to laundry pads and is more par ticularlyconcerned with pads employed on fiat work ironers and ironing presses.

In the past laundry pads have been extensively employed as resilientmembers between metal portions of ironing presses and between the covercloth and metal rollers of flat work ironers. Such pads are usuallyformed of parallel strands of sliver joined together by yarn or thread.In an effort to provide a durable and yet resilient and foraminate pad,the sliver employed has been almost exclusively cotton. Some pads,however, have been made of nylon or asbestos.

A pad with silver made completely of asbestos lacks the necessaryresiliency although it is heat resistant and therefore very shortlyafter such a pad is installed, the article, pressed with an ironer orpress having this asbestos pad, dries slowly and appears to be verypoorly pressed. A pad with sliver made of nylon has very good heatresistant characteristics but, like asbestos, lacks resiliency and, inaddition, is expensive.

On the other hand, a pad with sliver made of cotton lacks heatresistancy and readily burns out, requiring replacement about once everythree months. Such pads, however, are resilient and inexpensive tomanufacture.

Because installation of new pads requires shut down of equipment and thepads themselves are expensive, the industry has long sought a laundrypad which has a long useful life and at the same time is resilient andinexpensive and provides a fast drying rate.

To obviate the problems of such prior art devices, I have devised a padin which there are two layers of sliver, one layer of which is of heatresistant material and the other layer of which is of resilient fiber,preferably cotton. The heat resistant material is either a synthetic orasbestos and is to be positioned toward the source of heat. For example,if my laundry pad is to be used on a flat work ironer, the pad will beplaced around the periphery of the roll with the heat resistant materialoutwardly or on top, and the cotton sliver inwardly or on the bottom.

Since bulkiness is sometimes objectionable, my pad, while being formedas two distinct layers, has a thickness slightly greater than only onesliver, the inner portions of all slivers being wedge shaped to providetapering angular related sides which lie contiguous with the sides ofand in staggered relationship to the adjacent slivers of the othermaterial. Such a pad has a useful life at least double the life of acotton pad and permits a drying rate approaching that of a cotton pad.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide alaundry pad which is efficient in operation and yet has an unusuallylong useful life.

Another object of my invention is to provide a laundry pad which permitsan ironer or presser on which it is installed to produce a qualityironing job in a relatively short period of time.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pad having the resiliencyof a cotton pad and essentially its drying rate while, at the same time,having the heat resistancy of a high heat resistant material.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following description when taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of referencedesignate corresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a flat work ironer roll positionedto receive my pad, a lead cloth and a cover cloth.

FIG. 2 is a vertically sectioned perspective view of the rollillustrated in FIG. 1, the lead cloth pad and cover cloth beinginstalled thereon.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary partially exploded cross sectional View of mylaundry pad.

Referring now in detail to the embodiment chosen for purpose ofillustrating the present invention, it being understood that the presentinvention is not limited to the specific embodiment here depicted,numeral 10 denotes a conventional roll of a conventional flat workironer. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, a pluralityof such rolls 10 are successively arranged in flat work ironers (notshown) over steam chests (not shown). Fabric to be ironed is fed to theironer and passes between the steam chest and the roll 10. Thus, heatpassing from the steam chest heats the moistened fabric thereby creatingsteam which proceeds into the material covering the periphery of roll10.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the first fabric to be placed onthe periphery of the roll 10 is the lead cloth 11, one end 12 of whichmay be secured in any conventional manner such as by the gluing of end12 axially to the periphery of roll 10. Metal fasteners (not shown) mayalso be employed for securing the end 12 of the lead cloth 11 to theperiphery of the roll 10, as has been suggested by the prior art. Thislead cloth 11 is made from conventional materials employed for leadcloths. In the past cotton duck material has been employed; however,more recently a woven material containing asbestos has become morepopular.

Preferably the lead cloth 11 is of a length sufiicient to encompass theroll 10 once. About the first of lead cloth 11 from inner end 12 liesadjacent to and contiguous with roll 10, and the remaining portion toouter end 13 of the lead cloth 11 is adapted to pass over my laundry pad14.

My pad 14 has its inner end 15 inserted between an intermediate portionof the lead cloth 11 and pad 14 encompasses the periphery of roll 10,once so that its outer end 16 and its inner end 15 abut, to liesubstantially in the same radial plane.

In the present invention the inner end 17 of the cover cloth 18 overlapsthe outer end 13 of lead cloth 11 and the overlapping portions aresecured together by adhesive or by stitching so that the cover cloth 18is positively secured to roll 10 by means of the lead cloth 11. As isconventional, cover cloth 18 thence wraps around the pad 14 about oneand a quarter times or more, the outer end 19 of cover cloth 18 beingunsecured to cover cloth 18 so as to facilitate easy removal of theentire padding. Of course means may be employed, if desired, to secureend 19 in place.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that otherarrangements of lead cloth and cover cloth may be employed if desired.

According to my invention, my laundry pad 14, as seen in FIG. 3, is madeup of two layers of sliver, each sliver being generally triangular inshape or forming an isosceles wedge shaped member so that the apex ofall slivers project inwardly whereby the slivers of one layer arerespectively wedged between two slivers of the other layer. Thus, theslivers of one layer are aligned in a plane with each other, the sliversof the other layer are aligned in another plane with each other and theslivers of one layer are in staggered relationship to the slivers of theother layer.

In more detail, the top layer is formed from asbestos slivers 20 and thebottom layer is formed of cotton slivers 21. As will be seen in theexploded portion of FIG. 3,

each asbestos sliver 20 is provided with flat downwardly converging ortapering sides 22, 22 which join at their apex 23. Similarly, eachcotton sliver 21 is provided with flat upwardly converging or taperingsides 24, 24 which join at their apex 2.5. Projecting from the upperedges of sides 22, 22 of the asbestos slivers 20 are approximatelyparallel vertical side portions 26, 26, the upper edges of which arejoined by an arcuate upper surface 27. The cotton sliver 21 also hasvertical side portions 28, 28 which project parallel to each otherdownwardly from sides 24, 24 respectively. The lower edges of sideportions 28, 23 are joined by an arcuate bottom surface 29. Each uppersurface 27 is upwardly convexed and each lower surface 2 is downwardlyconvexed.

As best seen in the exploded portion of FIG. 3, each of slivers 2t) and21 is provided with from one to four pilot yarns, such as yarns 34)which are helically wound around the sliver at a pitch of about 45. Ifmore than one pilot yarn 3% is employed, they should be spaced evenlyfrom each other.

The slivers 20' and 21 are all arranged parallel to each other andretained together by nitting threads, such as thread 31. A double needlebar, single guide bar, raschel chain type stitch is preferably employedin weaving the thread 31 and slivers 2G and 21 together. The knittingthreads 31 are spaced from each other longitudinally along the sliverthroughout the length of the pad 14.

The preferred pad 14 made according to the present invention has thefollowing characteristics:

Preferred Structure Weight/sq. yd 4 pounds. Total thickness inchcompressed in operation. Top layer weight 50% of total Weight.Toplayercomposition. 80% asbestos, 20% Dacron. Bottom layer compositionCotton waste. Rows of sliver/inch 3%. top layer, 3 /2 bottom layer.Knitting threads/inch 4. Size of knitting thread 20/2 ply cotton count.

I)acronpolyester fiber produced by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & C0.

It will be understood, however, that the preferred SfiHlCtllle may bevaried. The following gives certain preferable limits in theconstruction of pad 14:

It will be understood that by the term heat resistant material as usedin defining the top layer or sliver 20, I mean a synthetic orartificially produced fiber such as asbestos, Dacron, 1 nylon, Arnel, 2acrylic fiber or a combination of those materials. The term cotton asemployed in defining the bottom layer or slivers 21 includes cottonwaste, new stock and shoddy (rags or string garnetted).

While it is possible to utilize sliver containing 100% asbestos for thetop layer, pure asbestos fibers are difficult to card and therefore Irecommend that at least Dacroupolyester fiber produced by E, I. du Pontde Nemours & Co.

Arne1cellulose triacetate fiber produced by Celanese Corporation ofAmerica.

cotton or synthetic fiber be admixed with the asbestos prior to thecarding operation if the heat resistant mate rial is to be asbestos.

In use, my pad 14 is laid on the roll it) with the slivers 2t} and 21running circumferentially with respect to the roll 19. On an ironerpress, the slivers should preferably be arranged transversely of thepress.

If it is desired, a backing cloth (not shown) may be knitted to the padso as to abut the cotton slivers 21.

With the arrangement illustrated, there are relatively large surfacessuch as sides 22, 22' of the asbestos slivers 20 in contact withrelatively large surfaces such as sides 24, 24 of the cotton sliver 21in contact or contiguous with each other. Theoretically, since asbestoshas a tendency to hold moisture, there is a tendency on the part of theasbestos fibers, probably through capillary action, to maintain a moistcondition, the apex 25 of each sliver 21 being probably the most moistbecause the moisture tends to travel inwardly through the asbestosduring that portion of the cycle when heat is not applied to the pad 14and then travels outwardly through the apex 25 when heat is applied tothe upper surface of the pad 14. It will therefore be seen that whilethe apex 25, being closest to the high temperature metal surface, is themost likely to become burned or charred, the apex 25 is also the portionof the cotton sliver 20 which is most likely to be subject to thecooling action of the moisture as it is evaporated.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations maybe made in the embodiment here chosen for purpose of illustrating thepresent invention without departing from the scope of my invention asdefined by the appended claims.

I claim:

I. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses comprising an upperlayer and a lower layer, said upper layer having parallel isosceleswedge shaped slivers of heat resistant material, said lower layer havingparallel isosceles wedge shaped slivers formed of cotton, said sliversof said upper layer and said slivers of said lower layer being instaggered relationship with the equal sides of the slivers of one layerbeing contiguous with the equal sides of the slivers of the other layer.

2. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses comprising an upperlayer and a lower layer, said upper layer having parallel isosceleswedge shaped slivers of heat resistant material forming a continuousouter surface, said lower layer having parallel isosceles wedge shapedslivers formed of foraminate fibrous material, said slivers of saidupper layer and said slivers of said lower layer being in staggeredrelationship with the sides of the slivers contiguous.

3. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses comprising an upperlayer, a lower layer, and threads joining said upper layer to said lowerlayer, said upper layer having inwardly projecting isosceles wedgeshaped slivers parallel with each other and aligned in a plane andforming a continuous outer surface, said lower layer having inwardlyprojecting isosceles wedge shaped slivers parallel to each other andaligned in another plane, said sliver of said upper layer beingstaggered with respect to the slivers of said lower layer, the apex ofthe wedge shaped slivers in one layer terminating slightly below theplane of the outer surface of the other layer, the converging surfacesof the wedge shaped sliver of one layer being contiguous with theconverging surfaces of the slivers of the other layer, said slivershaving convexed outer surfaces and substantially vertical side portionsabutting the side portions of adjacent slivers in its plane.

4. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses comprising an upperlayer and a lower layer, said upper layer having parallel isoscelesWedge shaped slivers formed of nylon, said lower layer having parallelisosceles wedge shaped slivers formed of cotton, said slivers of saidupper layer and slivers of said lower layer being in stag- ReferencesCited in the file of this patent gered relationship with the equal sidesof said slivers of one layer being contiguous with the equal sides ofthe UNITED STATES PATENTS slivers of the other layer. 57 3,7 20 SumnerDec. 22, 189 6 5. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses com- 52,003,741 Daughdrill June 4, 11935 prising an upper layer and a lowerlayer, said upper layer 2,091,926 Hill Aug. 31, 1937 having parallelisosceles wedge shaped slivers formed of 2 173,633 Hooper N 7, |1939cellulose triacetate, said lower layer having parallel isos- 5 3 37Weber 15, 1952 celes wedge shaped slivers formed of cotton, said sliversof said upper layer and said slivers of said lower layer 10 FOREIGNPATENTS being in staggered relationship with the equal sides of 323,377Great Britain Jan 2, 1930 said slivers of one layer being contiguouswith the equal sides of the slivers of the other layer.

